2 comments to Your Bias is Showing . . .

Yeah, I saw the looting on TV. I had no problem with the images of a man carrying out bottled water, food, and pampers. On the other hand, looting appliances, TVs, etc., presents another problem. Ultimately, the looters hurt their own communities. The veneer of civilization is very thin.

Dick, everyone seems to agree there’s a significant, moral difference between looting for necessities in a time of chaos, and taking advantage of chaos to grab all the shiny baubles you can while the grabbin’s good.

I can see this playing out in a way where Americans will wind up blaming the victims of Hurricane Katrina, who of course are the urban poor, disproportionately black, who didn’t have the financial wherewithal (or cars) to evacuate, and who are now trapped and desperate. The fact that so many are now looting just makes this more certain.

I also wonder how many hurricane refugees will have to be housed in Camp Liberty-style holding pens, and for how long, and what this unexpected phenomenon will do for American race relations. Because I think that while there will initially be poor whites among the refugees, the camps will quickly turn 100% minority.